Pringles2 MSL SemiFinal 2

This week has been a real treat for all progaming fans as both the MSL and OSL have treated us with some dynamite semi-final action. It is debatable, but perhaps the most anticipated match happened Thursday evening as Savior and Nal_rA faced off in a best-of-5 rematch of last season’s finals. Here is a preview of the matches written by our own Honestea:

Savior vs Nal_Ra: Matchup History: Savior 4 : 3 Nal_RaSavior ZvP: 45-19, 70.3%Nal_Ra PvZ: 84-60, 58.3%This matchup also pits two players who once shared a roof. Back in the G.O. days, Nal_Ra was the superstar of the team when Savior joined on as a practice partner. By the time Savior became a full-fledged progamer, Nal_Ra had moved to KTF. How times change. Savior is now the single most dominant force in progaming, something remarkable as a zerg. After a long slump, Nal_Ra has returned to his dreamy winning ways, performing well in both recent OSLs and MSLs. In fact, he reached the finals of the last MSL (Pringles season 1) only to be stopped by... Savior. In this rematch of last season's final, Nal_Ra will try once again to beat Savior and his 70% ZvP winning percentage. He will have to find an answer to Savior's superb management and smooth-as-silk play. Nal_Ra will need to reach deep within his dreams and find something special to defeat the current champion. But if we've learned anything throughout the years, it's this: no progamer does 'special' better than Nal_Ra. With the maps more balanced than the last time they met, the Dream Toss has a chance to unseat the Maestro from his throne.

Here is how the most knowledgeable progaming fans on earth bet on the matches:

Game 1: Peaks of Baekdu

On the windy peaks of Baekdu this epic clash of stars, truly the leaders of their respective races, began as it always does; with four workers and a building. From these humble beginnings, greatness emerges, and THIS, my friends, THIS was a thing of greatness.It all started so simply. Up north rA started some one base tech as Savior pooled but quickly followed with a hatchery expansion. As a corsair observed the three hatchery build below, it deftly dodged about, clearing away an overlord or two and carving a path for the first dt. Savior put on the pressure quick with hydralisks but was unable to inflict much damage. As a high tech rA took his expo, Savior grabbed the corner and pushed to lair.

With zerg expansions protected by lurkers and sunkens, rA found himself with a formidable land army but not a whole lot of targets. Savior waited patiently until he had formed a large number of lurkers and then used that force to take position in the center of the map. With lurkers blocking many of the well worn paths, rA was pushed back north towards his natural. As both players massed, the mini-map divided in half as expansions were claimed. Savior invested heavily in hatcheries, extending his creep and spinning his macro to dizzying heights. Facing a nightmare scenario, rA dropped two additional robotics facilities and massed reavers to go with his “everything else” army and clear out that messy middle.

Why do all of Savior’s ZvP look like this?

The action picked up rapidly once the zerg hive tech came into play. Using his signature guardians, Savior wrecked 2 o’clock with an aerial bombardment and ling/defiler drop. He continued his offensive with another cloud drop in the protoss main. However, reavers and archons combined to deliver a massive counter attack, reclaiming the middle and flipping expansions down the right side of the map. Deftly dodging scourges, rA used a double payload of reavers to even the score and kill Savior’s most plentiful resource holds.

With the initial minerals long gone, both players clashed repeatedly in the middle of the map with their high tech forces. rA faired very well in these encounters, dealing with flanks and avoiding plague. With a growing reaver/archon army, he swept up from the bottom towards the zerg natural. It was obvious by this late point in the game that Savior was running out of steam. He had been reduced to a single expansion, and no longer had the firepower to mount an offensive. He tried to push with his remaining defilers, but rA was simply content to sit and mine up the rest of the resources.

Once rA built reavers, the blood began to flow in torrents…

Starving, Savior decided he could not take on the protoss army in direct battle. As rA attacked his main base, he dodged his army to the north and the elimination race was on! Archons splattered the zerg main, headed to 7, and then crossed the map towards the last bastion at 2. Meanwhile, a group of ultras were smashing their way through cannons and other protoss buildings at a crazy rate. With the game coming down to the wire, rA pulled the ace from his sleeve as he unloaded a couple probes from his shuttle and built some strategic pylons hidden in the map. Knowing he was safe from elimination, he took out the remaining zerg buildings to end a crazy game one.

rA 1:0 Savior

It isn’t too often that a mini-map looks like this at end-game…

This was an epic game that showcased the great style of both players. If the series contained five games like this, these players would be shells by the end. This was about as close as pro games ever get, and this is what it takes to beat Savior PvZ.

Game 2: Longinus

After an epic first game that pushed both players to the max, the road still stretched out far in front of them. The dreamer toss had hit with his first salvo, but if that was the kind of game necessary to beat Savior, was it possible to do it three times? Game 2 was going to speak volumes in that regard, on a map that, at 6-3 PvZ, has a much more severe tilt in the balance.

However, none of these thoughts were going through rA’s mind as he opened at 11, placing his first pylon at his natural. He scouted Savior straight off, and seeing the hatchery first build felt confident to fast expand himself. He was mining gas far before his first gateway, and showed some amazing probe micro in preventing a second expo chance by savior over at 3. However, the Maestro got his expo, and dropped both a den and spire in front of the protoss scout, daring him to guess at the tech.

With both players building up their economies, rA focused on developing a fast, high powered ground army while scouting with dt’s. Savior harassed with mutalisks, slowing the second protoss expo while also protecting his own new mineral patches with lurker/sunken. His defense was weak over at three o’clock, which allowed rA to get in and destroy the defenses and drones. Savior still tried to pin him to his base with mutalisk harass but made sure to pull back in order to morph his guardians.

Making a tough choice, rA sends his army into the maw…

As Savior’s hive tech swung into force, rA knew he had to make a move or risk fighting a 5 base ultra/ling army. His decision was between attacking Savior’s main choke, or continuing to hit 3 o’clock which had far more minerals but far less drones. He chose to attack the main, and watched his army evaporate against a wall of sunkens and lurkers. The guardians swept overhead, smashed the remainder of his army, and then headed north to force the GG.

Nal_rA 1:1 Savior

Game 3: Blitz

After taking the momentum away from the KTF star, Savior took over the right spawn point of Blitz and started production. rA again expanded quickly, while Savior did the same. As rA built up infrastructure in his base for another land based army, he again showed great skill in delaying Savior from taking a second expansion. However, a few minutes in, the game rang very familiar with the previous one.

As Savior skipped mutalisks this round, he focused on producing mass lurkers, which allowed him to expand all across the upper platform looking over rA’s expansion. Leaving the bottom of the map for protoss building, Savior focused on spreading his creep in the north, and forcing rA to walk his large land army around the bottom of the map, a very slow and laborious process on Blitz.

rA focused on massing temps and zeals, but fond it very difficult to find a place ot attack. The main ramp into the middle was a nightmare of sunks and lurkers, while the other small ramps were only accessible one at a time. Try as he might, his army could gain no purchase on the plateau. In the south however, he was free to expand and did so readily.

I told you… they ALL look like this…

As always, Savior was very patient, waiting for his moment to strike. He again made good use of guardians, and under their protection, he mass dropped the protoss main with cracklings, reducing much of it to rubble. While rA was able to avoid the knock out blow, his misplaced and depleted army was unable to defend against the follow up attacks that pounded his expansions in the south. In a major counter-offensive, rA finally challenged the massive line of defense on the plateau above his base. In a close battle, his warriors fell as Savior was able to reinforce his line with an extra drop of lurkers.

With his army in tatters, and ultralisks incoming, rA tapped out as the swarm overwhelmed his natural.

Savior 2:1 Nal_rA

Game 4: Arcadia II

To start game 4, rA and Savior were both placed on the right side of the map, with the zerg overlord drifting south. rA fast expanded again, seemingly the only build remaining in PvZ. His nexus quickly followed, however Savior had pooled before his hatchery, causing concern that the protoss build would be run over. The race was on as Savior hatched his lings and two cannons warped in.

Initially, rA seemed to be safe as Savior chased his scout around and did not rush south. He also dropped two hatcheries at his expansions, preparing for mid-game. Perhaps when rA saw this, it explained why one of his two cannons cancelled at the last instant before it finished. However, it is possible that the cancellation was a mistake, because it was instantly replaced. Savior may have double expanded, but he was still using all of his larvae for zerglings. Seeing this, rA dropped a third cannon and a gateway, trying to make a wall. However, with only one completed cannon for defense, Savior swarmed over top of him and in a flash, the game was over.

The cannon cancel beside the ramp. Mistake or miscalculation…?

Savior 3:1 rA

Truly, this was a very disappointing way for the Dreamer to end his season. After a mind-boggling first game, Savior managed to re-establish his dominance and slowly gained momentum during the next two. While his timing and larvae use was superb in the last game, one cant help but wonder what would have been had the one cannon not cancelled. Pool zerg vs FE protoss…

Tonight's Reccomended VOD is easily game 1. Not becaue it was the only protoss win, but because close games like that illustrate just how close progaming is at the very top.

This sets up a final series that…!!!, is really disappointing :p. ZvZ in a finals isn’t all that great unless ChoJJa wins. However, Savior will have a shot at yet another MSL title, while Silver, who has come really out of nowhere this season, will try to wrest it away from the defending champ.

I was not at all disappointed by these games. Last OSL, it was a hot Savior vs. a crappy nal_rA. Savior played great and rA played poorly and got raped in the series. I thought rA played pretty well in this series and forced Savior to really bring out his skills. Game 1 was absolutely stunning. Game 2 was OK. Savior made some good moves and capitalized on a few rA mistakes (lings delayed the expo... how many times?). Game 3 and 4 kinda sucked, but oh well

Awesome gosu report, I have not watched MSL as vigorously as OSL simply because I have less time and I try to follow Terran games more. When XellOs was ousted out of MSL I put more focus on the OSL though I still read the reports and shoutcasts.